Vehicle radiator with tube to header joint formed of a composite weld and solder bond
AssigneeValeo Engine Cooling AB
InventorsKevin C. Murphy, Darrel C. Christian, Jeffrey M. Bentley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle radiator and method of manufacture comprising joining the liquid conducting tubes to the tank headers by punching holes with upstanding collars in the headers and inserting a tube end in each collar, each collar to tubing joint being formed by welding an intermediate portion of the joint and filling the rest with solder thereby forming a composite joint of weld and solder with additional solder forming a fillet behind the weld.
Claims19
A fluid to air heat exchanger having a pair of spaced tanks, each tank including a header plate having a wet side facing the interior of the tank and an air side facing ambient air, a plurality of openings formed in each header plate, each opening being provided with an upstanding collar projecting from the wet side of the header plate, a plurality of liquid conducting tubes connecting said spaced tanks at said header plate openings forming tube to header joints, each tube to header joint comprising a tube end portion inserted within said collar with a peripheral clearance gap therebetween, means for joining said tube end portion and said collar across said peripheral clearance gap in a liquid tight bond, said bond comprising first and second abutting peripheral portions, said first peripheral portion being formed at a first temperature, said second peripheral portion being formed at a second temperature lower than said first temperature.
A vehicular radiator having a pair of spaced tanks, each tank including a header plate having a wet side facing the interior of the tank and an air side facing ambient air, a plurality of oval shaped openings formed in each header plate, each oval shaped opening being provided with an upstanding collar projecting from the wet side of said header plate, a plurality of liquid conducting tubes, each tube being of oval shape with relatively flat crowns and arcuate end portions, said oval shaped tubes connecting said spaced tanks at said header plate openings forming tube to header joints, each tube to header joint comprising a tube end portion inserted within said collar with a peripheral clearance gap therebetween, means for joining said tube end portion and said collar across said peripheral clearance gap in a liquid tight bond, said bond comprising first and second abutting peripheral portions, said first peripheral portion being a welded bond, said second peripheral portion being a soldered bond;
- and a solder fillet extending from said second peripheral bond to encircle said tube at the air side of said header to seal and strengthen said tube to header joint.
The method of joining a plurality of liquid conducting tubes to a header plate in a storage tank of a heat exchanger wherein said header plate has a wet side facing the storage tank and an air side exposed to ambient air, said method comprising forming a plurality of openings with upstanding collars on the wet side of the header plate, inserting the liquid conducting tubes in the upstanding collars so that each tube end forms a joint having a peripheral gap with an associated collar, welding each tube to collar joint at a portion of the peripheral gap;
- and filling the remaining portion of the peripheral gap with solder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.